Ovsianiko-Kulikovsky's Symphony No. 21
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Mykola Ovsianiko-Kulikovsky (Russian: Николай Овсянико-Куликовский, ''Nikolay Ovsyaniko-Kulikovskiy'', 1768–1846) was the purported author of a famous musical
hoax A hoax (plural: hoaxes) is a widely publicised falsehood created to deceive its audience with false and often astonishing information, with the either malicious or humorous intent of causing shock and interest in as many people as possible. S ...
Symphony No. 21 (Ovsianiko-Kulikovsky), perpetrated by
composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...
and
violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...
ist
Mikhail Goldstein Mikhail Emmanuilovich Goldstein (, also transcribed as Michael Emmanuilowitsch Goldstein, ; pen name: Mykhailo Mykhailovsky; 7 September 1989) was a German composer, violinist and violin teacher of German-Jewish origin, brother of prominent violi ...
. In 1948, Goldstein announced that he had discovered the manuscript of a
symphony A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning c ...
by Ovsianiko-Kulikovsky in the archives of the
Odesa Conservatory The Odesa National Academy of Music (also known as the Odesa Conservatory or formally the A.V. Nezhdanova Odesa National Academy of Music) is a national higher education music academy in Odesa, Odesa Oblast, Ukraine. History The Odesa Conservator ...
where he worked. The
G minor G minor is a minor scale based on G, consisting of the pitches G, A, B, C, D, E, and F. Its key signature has two flats. Its relative major is B-flat major and its parallel major is G major. The G natural minor scale is: Changes n ...
work, numbered 21, was said to have been written in 1809; it bore the inscription "for the dedication of the Odessa Theater". The discovery caused a great deal of excitement in
Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
musical circles, for it was seen as proof that
Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
had been able to produce a symphonist of comparable stature to
Joseph Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( ; ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions ...
. Furthermore, the symphony contained Ukrainian folk songs and ended with a
Cossack The Cossacks are a predominantly East Slavic Eastern Christian people originating in the Pontic–Caspian steppe of eastern Ukraine and southern Russia. Cossacks played an important role in defending the southern borders of Ukraine and Rus ...
dance, showing that the composer had a nationalist awareness. This piece was subsequently proven to be a fake.Taruskin, Richard (1996). ''Stravinsky and the Russian Traditions: A Biography of the Works Through Mavra,'' p. 161. University of California Press, Association for Recorded Sound Collection (1994). ''ARSC Journal'', Volume 25, pp. 42-43.


Description

#Adagio – Allegro (G minor) #Romance. Adagio (G major) #Minuet (G minor, with trio in G major) #Finale. Kazachok (G major)


Purported composer

Little is known about Ovsianiko-Kulikovsky's life besides his dates of birth (1768) and death (1846). A native of
Kherson Oblast Kherson Oblast (, ; ), also known as Khersonshchyna (, ), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) in southern Ukraine. It is located just north of Crimea. Its administrative center is Kherson, on the northern or right bank ...
, he is known to have been a landowner and patron of the arts; in 1810 he presented his orchestra of
serf Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery. It developed du ...
s to the Odessa Theater. No evidence has yet come to light to suggest that he was active as a composer. He was the grandfather of the linguist .


Hoax discovery

The piece was performed in Odessa and in
Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...
in 1949, and was published by the state music publishers in 1951. It was also quickly recorded for
Melodiya Melodiya () is a Russian record label. It was the state-owned major record company of the Soviet Union. History Melodiya was established in 1964 as the "All-Union Gramophone Record Firm of the USSR Ministry of Culture Melodiya" in accordance wi ...
by
Yevgeny Mravinsky Yevgeny Aleksandrovich Mravinsky () (19 January 1988) was a Soviet and Russian conductor, pianist, and music pedagogue; he was a professor at Leningrad State Conservatory. Biography Mravinsky was born in Saint Petersburg. The soprano Yevgen ...
, and was soon the subject of treatises by two Soviet musicologists. One of the musicologists to study the work was a composer and Kyiv conservatory professor named , who was asked to examine the manuscript of the symphony. Upon completing his examination, he concluded that neither Ovsianiko-Kulikovsky nor
Mikhail Goldstein Mikhail Emmanuilovich Goldstein (, also transcribed as Michael Emmanuilowitsch Goldstein, ; pen name: Mykhailo Mykhailovsky; 7 September 1989) was a German composer, violinist and violin teacher of German-Jewish origin, brother of prominent violi ...
had written the symphony. Goldstein, however, stated that the symphony was in fact his own work. He had been stung when a communist party functionary savaged his use of Ukrainian themes in one of his own pieces, claiming that as a
Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...
he could not understand Ukrainian culture and had no right to use it in his music. When Goldstein replied that Beethoven also made use of Ukrainian themes in his "
Razumovsky Quartets The three Razumovsky (or Rasumovsky) string quartets, opus 59, are a set of string quartets by Ludwig van Beethoven. He wrote them in 1806, as a result of a commission by the Russian ambassador in Vienna, Count Andreas Razumovsky: :* String Quarte ...
" the functionary said bluntly that "Beethoven was not a Jew." The symphony, then, was written as an act of revenge, to prove that he could, in fact, write "Ukrainian" music. Vsevolod Chаgovets, a philosemitic Ukrainian musician-friend of his, made the suggestion to ascribe the symphony to "Ovsianniko-Kulikovsky". Goldstein was branded a liar and a traitor to Soviet culture for his actions; he emigrated from the USSR in 1964 and lived in
West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...
from 1969. He spent his remaining years teaching and working as a musicologist in
Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...
. The hoax was not acknowledged in some later publications. The work continues to be taught in courses on Ukrainian music at the major conservatories in Ukraine.


Publication

Ovsianiko-Kulikovsky: Symphony No. 21. full score, 22.2 x 30 cm 79pp. Moscow, Muzgiz, 1951. 480 copies printed.


Recording

The Melodiya recording of the symphony has recently been reissued. MELODIYA - MEL 1000933 Evgeni Mravinsky Glazunov & Ovsianiko-Kulikovski :Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra :Evgeni Mravinski, conductor *Alexander Glazunov (1865–1936) Symphony No. 4 in E flat Major en, op. 48 *Nikolai Ovsianiko-Kulikovski (Michael Goldstein) Symphony No. 21 in G minor :1 CD - ADD - TT: 55' 42 :Recorded in 1948 (Glazunov) & 1954 (Ovsianiko-Kulikovski)


References


External links


Ukrainian music of the nineteenth century
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ovsianiko-Kulikovsky, Mykola 1768 births 1846 deaths Ukrainian people in the Russian Empire Musical hoaxes Ukrainian composers People from Novorossiya Governorate